J. Michael McDade

Honest, open and sometimes courageous conversations about freedom, life, love and God.

Just Listen Son

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For some reason prayer has become something I am very interested in understanding over the last year. I have had the privilege of being taught by some people who I would consider prayer warriors. These people have taught me a lot about prayer, but I have begun to wonder at a deeper level what is actually heard by God, and how really should we be doing this thing we call prayer.

The real question I have in my mind that I can’t grasp the significance of is corporate prayer. Every weekend tons of people are involved in corporate prayer. I meet with two groups each week to pray, but I am beginning to wonder about how effective it really is for what we pray about. We seem to use God like an eternal slot machine that is there to provide us with requests for whatever we deem necessary for our lives. Jesus doesn’t seem to address this message but once in scripture; actually, He seems to discount the corporate prayer thing. So is it just for show when a preacher prays on TV, radio or within his own congregation? For some of them I am sure their hearts are in the right place, but for others not so much, so are we doing what Jesus actually instructed us to do?

I am not just bashing the establishment. People ask me to pray for them all of the time. Sometimes I remember, but many times I have forgotten to do it. Then I lie to them when they ask have you been praying for me. Oh Yea! Every day I have been praying for you. Sound familiar?  I hate to admit that part, but it is true. I am not doing this anymore.

I have also seen a prayer chain of people (locked hands) with super strong faith heal someone who was really sick. It was amazing, but most people don’t believe it can happen, so it doesn’t happen much. They accuse you of being psycho to keep you in line. This part is sad because it seems to be something that we have the power to do if we just believe in it.

Prayer is really confusing. How do you do it? What is really effective?

I decided to go to the source.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This then is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”-Jesus

Why in the room (closet)? Why such few words? If God already knows, why bother?

Because he wants a relationship with you, He wants you to listen to Him. He wants your trust. I get it now God, “Just listen, Son”! Trust my will for your life.

I would love to hear your feedback on prayer!

Rock Star

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A Blues guitarist jammimg on stage with stage lighting.

Recently I pulled into a strip mall in North Atlanta to get a Subway sandwich for lunch. Pearl Jam’s song Jeremy interrupted my mission, forcing me to sit and reflect as I listened. I love the lyrics of Pearl Jam’s music; it stirs the deeper regions of my soul.

Soon my thoughts took me back to a time in my living room back home in Mississippi. Me and my best friend at the time and two girls from our high school were home alone jamming to Aerosmith. With tennis rackets in hand, we danced around the room jumping from the furniture like we were on stage at Madison Square Garden. Our guitar solos were blistering as we leaned back until we fell to the floor playing our hearts out on our homemade Fender guitars.

I think the girls thought we were crazy, but for me this was serious business. Deep in my heart I really wanted to be a Rock Star!! I longed to be the front man like Steven Tyler or Robert Plant. I longed to be recognized as someone special. My insecurities kept me from ever taking the stage.

The longings to be a rock star seemed selfish and prideful: my culture, my upbringing, and especially my religion told me that these longings were not godly.

God loves to be worshipped doesn’t He?

Is He selfish?

The tears streaming down my cheeks that day listening to the vocals (lyrics) of Eddie Vetter touched my heart strings, and they made me realize that these longings are not ungodly.

The longings to be appreciated, affirmed, trusted, admired and maybe even worshipped are a deep seated piece of all of us, and maybe even how we project the image of God. I know when I speak in front of a group of men sometimes I walk off the stage and have to ask others what I said. It seems that God just takes over. I become his mouth piece. My glory is His glory. Mine is not as big, but somehow they are connected. Don’t discount the Rock Star who lives inside of you!

I am a “Rock Star”, and so are you!

When Do We Want It?

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In the past few years, I’ve been contemplating and working toward some colossal life restructuring. I’ve made decisions and now I’m ready for everything to fall into place, so I can live happily ever after.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t all happened yet – imagine that. I don’t know if you’re like me, but when things don’t happen on my time frame, I begin to battle with discouragement. Historically, discouragement has taken home the victory more times than I care to admit, but this time something is different. During this particular scuffle, I began to contemplate the difference between ‘now’ and ‘yet’.

Here are some of my ponderings…

We’ve been programmed to believe that Now is far superior to Yet. We are inundated, saturated, and over stimulated with Now. So many things are easily and readily available instantly that the seduction of Now often overshadows the promise of Yet.

Now is a master of disguise. Rarely will you find Now riding into town wearing a black hat. No, Now is a shiny, eye-catching, kaleidoscope of colors. Now has slick packaging and comes with the promise of the instant, and boy, do we love instant. It’s alluring and comes with a soundtrack that causes Sirens to hang their heads in shame. Now is now and we can hardly resist it. What we fail to realize is this, Now is quite often the driving force behind bad decisions, which often turn into less than epic endings.

Yet, on the other hand, is the stuff longevity is made of. Yet is the ying to Now’s yang. Yet allows us the time to do a little more research, build confidence and trust and solidify our decisions within ourselves. Yet is steeped in patience, and if Yet is meant to be, it will always turn into Now.

Unfortunately, once you’ve allowed Now onto the scene, it is almost impossible to return to Yet, so choose wisely. I’m doing my best to break my programming and force Now to yield to Yet. It’s certainly not easy, but I’m confident the best is Yet to come.

Disclaimer:  I would love to claim this writing, but it belongs to a wonderful friend. You are a great writer Amy!

 

Good Friday?

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I have always wondered why we call the Friday before Easter Good Friday; now I understand the obvious answer of dying for my sins, but really Good Friday? The man I have chosen to pattern my life after died today. He suffered excruciating pain and humiliation for me? It is so easy to look forward to Sunday and the resurrection because we love a feel good story, but I ask my readers today to walk with a heavy heart and remember what happened on this day. Try to see through his eyes.

If you have watched The Passion you’ll understand where I am heading with this post. Jesus was beaten, scourged, verbal abused, spit upon and then crucified like a common criminal, with the people he loved watching, doing nothing to stop this dreadful act against the man who would ultimately save them.

As I sit in my office this morning I try to visualize with my soul what it must have felt like to be so betrayed, so defeated and so unloved. The pain from his wounds were probably no match for the pain of his broken heart. I can empathize with the line in the Bible, “Father, why have you forsaken me?”

Throughout scripture God’s word points to the crucifixion of a savior. David writes in Psalm 22,

“Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and feet. I can count my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”

Isaiah writes about Christ as well in Isaiah 53, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed.”

You see the amazing part of these scriptures is that they were written a thousand years before his death. It was inevitable that Jesus must die for us. The whole Bible pointed to this day.

This morning I tried to think about what it must have been like to know you were dying for others. I would die for my children, my wife, my mother, my sisters and their families, and many good friends, but would I give up my life for someone who I didn’t even know?

The only way someone could do something like that is with LOVE! Thank you God for loving me! Pray for those today who don’t understand the depths of this kind of love.